Violence during consensual sex has become normalised [1], campaigners have warned. They said: “This is likely to be due to the widespread availability, normalisation and use of extreme pornography.”
It comes after more than a third of UK women under the age of 40 said in a survey that they have experienced unwanted slapping, choking, gagging or spitting during consensual sex.
Of the women who had experienced any of these acts, wanted or otherwise, 20% said they had been left upset or frightened.
The Centre for Women’s Justice told the BBC the figures showed the “growing pressure on young women to consent to violent, dangerous and demeaning acts”.
Steven Pope, a psychotherapist specialising in sex and relationships, told 5 Live that he deals with the negative impact of the rise of acts of these kinds “day in, day out”.
“It’s a silent epidemic. People do it because they think it’s the norm but it can be very harmful. What we see is that for many, it devalues the relationship but – at its worst – violence becomes acceptable.”